5.30.2005

somewhere, Komar & Melamid are smiling

The odd thing about entirely market-driven pop music is that it's curiously clueless about its core market. What do I mean? Well...consider that for years, young teenage girls have been the main purchasers of pop singles. As everyone knows, young teenage girls are, by law and regulation, entirely mad about horses and ponies. And yet, as far as I can recall, only one chart-targeting artist has taken this into account, and written a song quite clearly aiming at the pony-mad teenage girl audience. I speak, of course, of Michael Murphey's immortal "Wildfire." (Murphey, by the way, has apparently made a career being a "singing cowboy poet." Seems a bit obscure - I mean, "banjo-slinging railroad-man painter" or "trombone-playing astronaut actor" were already taken, I suppose? But hey - gotta milk the one hit single for what it's worth.) I mean, what more could you ask for? There's a mysterious horse, a girl who rides it, tragic death, and, you know, emotionally resonant meteorological phenomena. What's wrong with all you pop-bound songwriters? Just as the teen male demographic may be accessed through songs about cars and girls (as The Dictators knew), the teen female demographic wants more songs about horses! (Curiously, Patti Smith doesn't count.)

But not all at ADS is names ending in the letter "i" with little circles above them; no, many very manly things have been afoot here lately. Why just today, I spent the holiday engaged in the following activities, certain to enhance my manly status among those who keep score of such things: I ate a large breakfast involving meat, eggs, and cheese; I purchased some items at Menard's; I used a shovel, a drill, and a hammer to put up a structure in the yard; I discussed trucks, trains, and automobiles with a wizened male relative; I cooked and ate meat on the grill in our backyard; I drank a couple of beers. I probably lose points for not watching men (and a woman or two) in logo-festooned jumpsuits driving massively-wheeled cars very fast over and over again in circles - but I'm sure I can make up for it by browsing a website about guns or pornography or flat abs or something.

"Run for the Roses"? Don't know it - when exactly was it a hit, and by whom? The AMG entry for that song title is unrevealing - I mean, Dan Fogelberg (sorry - wait a moment while I'm sick) did a song of that title, as did a few other folks (including - yes! - Michael Murphey) but, uh, "hit"? Don't think so... Anyway: one other song only proves my point that there's a paucity of horsemania-oriented tunes directed at the teen and preteen female audience. There's gold in them thar, uh, verses - I tells ya!

disclaimer

Sound files are posted as an incentive to encourage you to hear and purchase music, and will be removed within a few weeks of posting (unless I have permission to keep them up permanently) or by request. (Request via e-mail: humans can decode the e-mail address in the "About Me" section below.) If you like what you hear, and the song's commercially available, please support musicians by purchasing the song or CD. Really, you should get out of the house and go to a good, locally-owned record store...before it shuts down.